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Happy Birthday, Mrs. CRowe!! Looks like you have a keeper
With a brand new car, you shouldn't have to worry about anything. It would be nice to see a few pics of the digitized cockpit where you can presumably customize the data displayed on the "instrument cluster". I realize it's your wife's car, but maybe she will let you play with it some.
Congrats! I hope she (and you) enjoy it. You should be fine, modern Audis are way more reliable than prior Audis.
Thanks Steve, much appreciated! I was thinking the same thing.
Originally Posted by comotiger
Happy Birthday, Mrs. CRowe!! Looks like you have a keeper
With a brand new car, you shouldn't have to worry about anything. It would be nice to see a few pics of the digitized cockpit where you can presumably customize the data displayed on the "instrument cluster". I realize it's your wife's car, but maybe she will let you play with it some.
Thanks as well AC! Keeper for sure, especially for putting up with me! lol! So, I went with a Premier with the P+ pckg, which in this case included the S-trim, so the exterior looks like an S3, but does not have the performance of one. Also, I didn't pick up the tech pckg, so it doesn't have the virtual cockpit. But even without it, there are still many things you can do with the mostly analogue and part digital cluster. The car is pretty cool technically, even without a tech pckg. Carpay is integrated so she should be more than okay. Oh! Also, I noticed that I typed A4 in my original post. I meant to type A3.
Thanks again guys!
I've never really understood why people buy nice cars, and then buy crappy cars to commute in, when most of their driving is done commuting.
As a parallel to the above, why do people rent a basic car to go on a roadtrip when they have a nicer car? I never understood the rationale of "to keep the miles off my car". If you own your car then so what? Load up the miles. I bought my cars to drive them, not avoid driving them! I can kind of understand it if your primary car is a lease but even then it's just added expense to rent an alternate car.
Originally Posted by SW15LS
Congrats! I hope she (and you) enjoy it. You should be fine, modern Audis are way more reliable than prior Audis.
Congrats to you and your wife, CRowe! A buddy at work has had his new A6 for a year now and no issues so far. I've always liked the A6 but the ones in the late 90s were notoriously unreliable, evidenced by a friend's husband that had all sorts of issues with the car back then. The current generation of Audis do appear to be doing better in reliability. Enjoy! It is wonderful you have given your wife a happy memory she will never forget and will gab to her girlfriends about for years. Sure beats having the wife recall every moment I've messed up.
Had to chime in here..
I was JUST thinking about making a new thread but was trying to justify the reason to do it here versus the Car Chat area. I was leaning towards here because I was going to make my favorable comments regarding the LS, and I knew that many of us here could/would relate.
So, on to it...
My wife has been driving larger vehicles (SUV's) for the last 10+ years, and most recently, a Honda Pilot. Neither of us really "loved" the Pilot, but it served us well and we grew to like it a lot since we purchased new in 2012. No major complaints nor gripes from her until I got the LS. She likes the LS but then began to feel like she had yet to drive a car that she really "wanted" to drive.
That toned down over the last few years (never fully ceased), but that tone came to read its head (and got louder) once we had attended the Chicago Auto Show.
Side note: She has wanted an Audi for the last few years..cant blame her as they a great looking and driving cars...
Today is her birthday and she had quite a day planned for herself, as she took the day off to "pamper" herself. So, yesterday, I took the Pilot and traded it in for a '17 Audi A4.
Now its a lease, as I completely believe that if you're going to buy German, you lease and don't buy.
She had no idea about what was going on nor what I was doing, so I was able to pull up in the driveway placed flowers on the hood with a few "Happy Birthday" balloons attached to the car. Went inside and placed the box with the keys in it on the kitchen counter.
Ecstatic isn't even the word, as she was absolutely speechless! It was pretty awesome...
She's never been "excited" about what she's driven, nor had I, until I purchased my LS, and I really wanted her to experience what it was like to drive a car your excited about. Even if it meant the possibilities of "Audi Issues". Hey, you only live once, right!?! (and, its a lease, so im not on the hook for anything).
I figure three years, we should be fine, and keeping it after that time frame is out of the question.
But I will say, it is one hell of a fun car to drive!
Two completely different cars, but I have to say, after driving the Audi for a bit and getting back into my LS, just nothing like it.
So, i'll be one of the few Lexus/Audi owners in here and will share my ownership experience periodically regarding the Audi.
But the most important thing for me though, is that my wife was blown away by the surprise and she absolutely loves the car!
Congrats to her!! Audi really has some nice interiors and the very understated by elegant exterior styling. Their AWD is unparalleled next to Subaru. I'm glad you leased, as I have said earlier, I purchased my last 2 Audis and I would not do that again. 3-5 years tops and dump it after you enjoy it! Audis should really be a pump and dump. I look forward your comparison.
I now want to surprise my wife with a new(er) car.
Though, while her '02 RX300 is a bit aged, it has only 140K on it, and she still really likes it...as in I can't get a read on what she'd want, instead.
Hell, she was delighted after I polished Princess's headlamps!
There's about three years of Vegas UV on these at this point. Honestly, I'm truly amazed. I never recommend anything unless I've owned/consumed it, and would do so, again, without hesitation.
I know, they weren't "bad", by any stretch, at 15 years (even though I got this stuff in July of '16, I didn't do it until a few weeks ago), but my wife hated how it gave Princess the look of cataracts.
After shopping replacement lenses...and picking my brains up off the floor post-head explosion and pricing...I knew I had to find something better.
My Lovely Wife also wants Princess's nose painted, but I know...for a fact...it's never going to look right.
Maybe I'll do/have done, the timing belt this Spring.
As a parallel to the above, why do people rent a basic car to go on a roadtrip when they have a nicer car? I never understood the rationale of "to keep the miles off my car". If you own your car then so what? Load up the miles. I bought my cars to drive them, not avoid driving them! I can kind of understand it if your primary car is a lease but even then it's just added expense to rent an alternate car.
I agree 100%. The only time I've ever rented a car for a trip was when my car was so old and questionably reliable I was concerned it would survive the trip lol.
And yeah on the lease too. Even if you are over the miles, its .20 a mile, so if you drive 1000 miles on your trip its $200. Could you rent that caliber car for the duration of that trip for $200?
I now want to surprise my wife with a new(er) car.
Though, while her '02 RX300 is a bit aged, it has only 140K on it, and she still really likes it...as in I can't get a read on what she'd want, instead.
Hell, she was delighted after I polished Princess's headlamps!
There's about three years of Vegas UV on these at this point. Honestly, I'm truly amazed. I never recommend anything unless I've owned/consumed it, and would do so, again, without hesitation.
I know, they weren't "bad", by any stretch, at 15 years (even though I got this stuff in July of '16, I didn't do it until a few weeks ago), but my wife hated how it gave Princess the look of cataracts.
After shopping replacement lenses...and picking my brains up off the floor post-head explosion and pricing...I knew I had to find something better.
My Lovely Wife also wants Princess's nose painted, but I know...for a fact...it's never going to look right.
Maybe I'll do/have done, the timing belt this Spring.
Yes...it's the original one. I know, I know....
Nice, mckelly! You've motivated me to do the same on my wife's car. I purchased a 3M headlight restoration kit on 9/6/2014 and have yet to open it. Did you have to connect any pads to a power drill or orbital buffer? It doesn't seem like you had to remove the headlights, which is a big plus!
Today is her birthday and she had quite a day planned for herself, as she took the day off to "pamper" herself. So, yesterday, I took the Pilot and traded it in for a '17 Audi A4.
Now its a lease, as I completely believe that if you're going to buy German, you lease and don't buy.
CRowe, out of curiosity, how does one trade in a car for a lease? I imagine the trade-in would exceed the lease down payment, so does that mean the extra is applied towards whatever you negotiated the price of the car to be? And so that then reduces the "depreciation" cost and further lowers the monthly lease payments?
My wife's 2006 ES is probably valued between $7k-9k now. She would rather keep it since we just replaced some engine mounts, brakes, sparkplugs, and tranny flush. We will keep it. However, for a brief period I wondered do we trade in her car on a new RX lease or do we sell her ES and use the money to put money down on two back-to-back leases for her?
CRowe, out of curiosity, how does one trade in a car for a lease? I imagine the trade-in would exceed the lease down payment, so does that mean the extra is applied towards whatever you negotiated the price of the car to be? And so that then reduces the "depreciation" cost and further lowers the monthly lease payments?
My wife's 2006 ES is probably valued between $7k-9k now. She would rather keep it since we just replaced some engine mounts, brakes, sparkplugs, and tranny flush. We will keep it. However, for a brief period I wondered do we trade in her car on a new RX lease or do we sell her ES and use the money to put money down on two back-to-back leases for her?
Your best bet is to pocket the money and not put a down on a lease. Hold onto that money and use it to pay the bill month-to-month. Money down on a lease is usually lost should the car be stolen or totaled since the insurance will pay off the market value of the car, regardless of how much you put down. Another option is to ask your dealer about MSDs (Multiple Security Deposits) instead to lower the interest rate. Basically, you give them a cash deposit, they lower the rate, then at the end of the lease you get that deposit back.
Pretty cool story Crowe, enjoy, they are pretty cool cars and you'll have no problems because it's a lease. I'm wondering if I should do something like that for my wife, she is the same way after I got my LS. All of the sudden she cares about cars and wants something nicer.
Your best bet is to pocket the money and not put a down on a lease. Hold onto that money and use it to pay the bill month-to-month. Money down on a lease is usually lost should the car be stolen or totaled since the insurance will pay off the market value of the car, regardless of how much you put down. Another option is to ask your dealer about MSDs (Multiple Security Deposits) instead to lower the interest rate. Basically, you give them a cash deposit, they lower the rate, then at the end of the lease you get that deposit back.
Originally Posted by SW15LS
What he said above!
Thank you, raging/Steve. I have zero experience with leases. Was not aware you could opt to not pay the lease down payment and just take a higher monthly. So many new concepts I'm learning. For now we will continue to keep the ES. I tallied all of our expenses and am surprised buying the car new and holding onto it for 11+ years has not provided nearly the kind of savings I would have expected. The math comes out to about $300/month over the course of 11 years to drive the ES (already factoring in the benefit of selling it privately). A new ES lease is $350 with down payment, $400 without money down. Almost seems worth it to lease and have no maintenance to worry about, always have warranty coverage, and have the latest tech. Of course, my wife didn't always drive 6,000 miles a year like she does now. She used to do a 1.5 hr one-way commute to work in the early years so a lease was not always practical. Still, good to know for the future. Thank you both!
Not much additional to add to the huge amount of good advice already given but I will tell you that I drive a 75-80 mile commute everyday and wouldn't do it in anything other than an LS. It's a big comfy car, exactly what you want when you have a long commute especially when there are times that traffic keeps you in the car longer. I would cross the fit off my own personal list just because the styling does not appeal to me at all and the lines and styling of a car are really important to me. I am spending my hard earned money I want something that I enjoy driving and looking at. (the exact reason why I chose a lwb LS460 over a swb because I liked the proportions of the car better to the eye). EIther way both are reliable cars.
I commute as well. I do a 150 mile commute every day. 75 miles each way. Last year, I bought a 2016 Hyundai Veloster to commute in and it lasted a whole 5 weeks. I could not bare to drive that distance in a small car after 5 weeks, so I bought another LS for my wife to drive and I drive my 2001 on the commute. It really is one of the best ways to soak up miles. So, with that said, I can only imagine a newer LS460 would only be better in the same situation. As others have stated, the Fit will wear you out, quickly.
I commute as well. I do a 150 mile commute every day. 75 miles each way. Last year, I bought a 2016 Hyundai Veloster to commute in and it lasted a whole 5 weeks. I could not bare to drive that distance in a small car after 5 weeks, so I bought another LS for my wife to drive and I drive my 2001 on the commute. It really is one of the best ways to soak up miles. So, with that said, I can only imagine a newer LS460 would only be better in the same situation. As others have stated, the Fit will wear you out, quickly.
Wow! A hundred and fifty a day? How many miles on the car? I have a friend who has the same commute, distance wise.
03-14-17, 02:11 PM
